Stock market today: BSE Sensex ends 150 points up; Nifty50 near 23,300 after hitting lifetime high

Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, surged in trade on Wednesday, with Nifty50 hitting a lifetime high in intraday trade. While BSE Sensex crossed 77,000 mark in intraday trade, Nifty50 hit an all time high of over 23,420. BSE Sensex ended the day at 76,606.57, up 150 points or 0.20%. Nifty50 closed the day at 23,323.55, up 59 points or 0.25%.
The top Sensex 30 gainers at closing included Power Grid, tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, UltraTech Cement, L&T and Bharti Airtel.The top Sensex 30 losers were M&M, HUL, Infosys, Titan, Axis Bank, Nestle India and TCS.
Market analysts are of the view that the stock market seems to be in consolidation mode due to the absence of any new catalysts. Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal, says, “Globally, investors are cautiously awaiting US CPI data and US Fed policy outcome which will be released tomorrow. The US Fed commentary could provide direction to the market. So far investors are baking in one rate cut towards the end of the year and any deviation from that could drive the market on either side.”
Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities says that the index is currently placed at the hurdle of 23400-23500 levels, which are weighing high for the market to sustain the new all-time highs, suggesting a possibility of a dip in the market. Immediate support is at 23050 levels, he said.
Oil prices ticked higher on Wednesday due to upbeat global demand views from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and OPEC. Brent crude futures rose 11 cents to $82.04 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 18 cents to settle at $78.10.
Foreign portfolio investors turned marginal net sellers at Rs 111 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 3,193 crore. The net short of FIIs reduced from Rs 1.43 lakh crore on Monday to Rs 1.25 lakh crore on Tuesday.